An environmental champion leaves CEED

A red-tailed hawk perched on a tree branch nearby, probably emitting his own farewell salute, while Eric Powers was describing the traits of foxes to 20 third graders from Bretton Woods Elementary School on the CEED Nature Center trail. “If you hear them, when you open your door, they’re already gone,” he said to a rapt audience. He pulled out a fox skin. “This would be our friend the fox. They’re clever and sneaky.”

Around the bend, he pointed to a tree with barely perceptible scratch marks on its bark and asked what animal left its mark.

It was a deer, who rubbed its antlers, he said. One young man guessed correctly. “That’s how they defend themselves,” Powers said.

Powers, a wildlife biologist known as Ranger Eric Powers, site and program director and co-founder of the Center for Environmental Education and Discovery for the last 10 years, was rounding out his last trip at the nature center, before heading to Colorado to care for his mother.

He’s educated thousands of youngsters and adults over the years, even before officially co-founding CEED, in 2016.  His prodigious accomplishments include leading nature hikes in 1987 as a park ranger in Colorado, before serving two years in the U.S. Peace Corps as an Environmental Education Officer in the Kingdom of Tonga. After that, Powers ran nature centers in Colorado, Alabama and New York. An adjunct professor at Molloy College, he developed a successful summer course for Molloy’s Teaching Green Sustainability Institute for High School Teachers, and even had an award-winning TV series, “Off the Trail with Ranger Powers.” 

In 2016, he formalized CEED with Rebecca Mueller at the old Washington Lodge, and he was recognized as 2020 Environmentalist of the Year by the Long Island Sierra Club, and 2021 Environmental Educator of the Year by The New York State Outdoor Education Association (NYSOEA).

This wooded haven is an imaginative nature wonderland for youngsters to see green things and animals at the Washington Lodge location, on nine acres with trails and the 51-acre Dennis Puleston Nature Preserve across the street, all in a bucolic area next to Mama Farm off South Country Road in Brookhaven.

“We’ve come here every year for the last five or six years,” said Bretton Woods Elementary teacher Keri Haviland, who was there with five other teachers and their groups, 100 third-grade youngsters. “His program fits in with our animal adaptations course, and he’s a wonderful educator.”

Powers has skillfully picked up quail babies, which eat ticks, then released them en masse, posed with animal ambassadors Porto Bello the guinea pig, Monte the Greek tortoise, Diego the bearded dragon.

Lovey the dove frequently perches on his head.

He’s taken ferry trips to Ho-Hum Beach for marine biology courses, built raised beds on the site to establish small community gardens, and oversaw efforts to keep their wooded area populated by native trees. The list goes on and on.

He was driving Lovey as well as a boa constrictor and a large lizard in a trailer van pulled by his Mitsubishi to Greeley, Colo., where his mom lives. They’ll all live together.

“I’m going to start to help take care of mom, which is an honor,” he said. “And eventually get a job.”

He meant one that wasn’t a 24/7 position he’s been immersed with all these years fostering his programs, even before CEED, where he lived as live-in caretaker.

But he’s grateful for the time and has exuded an ebullient energy throughout his tenure here that inspires others.

CEED executive director Sally Wellinger said Powers’s leaving will create a re-shifting that is being formalized. Her staff are a devoted crew, which is why the place is always hopping with programs. Events and workshops number 100; small programs, 300 yearly now, she said.

(Environmental educator Karrthik Pitchayan will be moving in as caretaker.)

As for the animal ambassadors, “We’re keeping quite a few of the animals,” she said. “We’ll be getting a new bird or two and have a new bunny; they are all rescues, and we want to educate people about the responsibility of being a pet owner.”

Powers was running his own business in his house before founding CEED. “I had the animals there and it was exhausting,” he said. “I wanted a place where people could come together, and it would ease the lives of animals. When we first got this place, I got a fire pit; that’s the way to gather people together.”

The Washington Lodge was a mess when CEED was first tackled, May 21, 2015. “The copper was gone. Teenagers had parties in the empty house, two fire extinguishers had been fired off, and there were nine raccoons living in the house. Even a homeless person camped out here.”

But one by one, steady efforts were made. The Post-Morrow Foundation was a steward; there was an Art and Nature group. Residents lobbied and wanted this place saved.

Powers moved in with his animals to a second-floor three-room apartment. Officials came on board with grants and land preservation, renovations were made, and people started coming.

At first, the programs had to be held outdoors. Now, with the renovations, including new windows, flooring, sprinklers, fire alarms, etc., programs can be held inside.

Key volunteer for building and grounds, gardening and events Barbara LaGois was outside tending to the area the day of Powers’s interview. “I’ve worked with Eric for 28 years. There’s no one like him,” she said.

Two farewell salutes around the fire pit brought out loads of admirers, Wellinger said. “There’s no way to replace him. But Karrthik is a great educator. I know we’ll be fine; it will just be different.”